


One More Day

by sg_wonderland



Series: Days series [21]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 02:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8186723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg_wonderland/pseuds/sg_wonderland
Summary: Daniel all grown up.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Because I couldn't resist one more peek into this world.

I look around the large reception area, wishing Dad were here to see this. But he’s been gone three years, sat down one evening in his recliner and never woke up. 

If only he were here to see the Stargate project become public. I admit I was shocked when Jack O’Neill showed up on my doorstep a month ago and proceeded to tell me a story so outlandish that it took me awhile to believe it. And today, that story goes public. The President is giving a speech from somewhere here in the bowels of Cheyenne Mountain; we are in an upper level room that has been converted to hold the folks who have received invitations to the after-announcement reception. 

I know very few of the folks milling around here. Colonel Samantha Carter spoke to me briefly before she was spirited away by Emmett Bregman, who has filmed a documentary that will have its debut screening here this afternoon before appearing on the networks tonight. I admit that I’m looking forward to that. I do wish the girls could be here, too, but family tickets were hard to come by; the only reason Scott and I are here is because of Dad’s contribution. Besides, both of them have children of their own now, something that I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to. I love my grandchildren but it means you have to think of your babies as being old enough to have babies of their own.

I turn as I feel a light touch on my shoulder. “Hello, Mrs. Hernandez.” I peer up at the young man standing in front of me, more than a head taller than me, he has a gentle smile, long hair that is shiny and hangs to his shoulders. His smile grows. “You don’t know who I am,” he observes, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Daniel!” I grab him and hug him tight. He holds me equally as tight and I feel the muscles in those lean arms. Finally, I release him to lean back and I can’t stop the hand that cups that cheek that I’ve kissed and from which I’ve wiped both dirt and tears. “Jack didn’t say a word about you coming!” I scold.

“I wasn’t sure I could make it,” he shrugs. “I flew in this morning and have to fly back out on Tuesday.”

“At least Jack will get a couple of days with you. And where is your next concert?” Scott and I managed to see him in Washington a couple of summers ago when he was a guest performer at the Kennedy Center but this is the first time I’ve seen him face to face for several years. 

“Moscow, then back to Paris for the rest of the summer.” He says matter-of-factly. As if he weren’t a world-renowned pianist who draws crowds wherever he plays.

I shake my head and pat his cheek again. “It can’t be that many years ago that you fell out of Kayla’s swing set.” I marvel.

“It’s been almost twenty years,” he points out.

“Oh, neither of us can be that old!”

“Well, you look the same to me that you did then.” 

“You’re still the same little charmer you were back then. Let’s find Scott, I know he’ll want to see you.”

The three of us end up sitting together for the screening of the movie. I grab Scott’s hand when Dad first appears on screen. I’ve always been incredibly proud of him and his military service but never more than today.

Scott nudges me and I realize who the journalist is interviewing; I lean around Scott to look accusingly at Daniel because he didn’t mention he was in the documentary. But, as Mr. Bregman points out, it makes sense to interview the person who, literally, grew up with the Stargate program. They include a few short clips, probably from security cameras, of a little Daniel frolicking through the halls of the SGC, asleep atop a conference room table and one of him whirling madly in a large leather chair-possibly Dad’s- head thrown back, laughing, clearly without a care in the world.

I smile in spite of the tears. This is the Daniel I remember, a little boy who could be, in turns, charming and playful, quiet and introspective. He appears to be uncomfortable seeing himself on screen, which surprises me since he is so often photographed and interviewed, you’d think he’d be used to it now.

Then Bregman is interviewing Jack about Dr. Jackson; it is frighteningly easy to forget that Jack isn’t Daniel’s natural father, that there was another Daniel before. There is some stock footage of the man who opened the gate and I know I’m not the only person marveling at the uncanny resemblance between father and son. Scott, bless him, throws a casual arm around our Daniel, keeping it there while Jack talks about the loss of his old friend.

*

I’m glad they are giving us all a DVD copy of the documentary because there was so much to take in, I know I missed a lot. Jack comes in shortly after the movie ends, making a beeline for Daniel. He knew his son was here, but he was obligated to be in the gate room when the President made the announcement. I look at the two of them together, Daniel nearly as tall as his proud father, who has his arm slung around his son’s shoulders. Before we leave, I make Jack promise to bring Daniel over to the house for a meal before he has to fly back out.

*

With a smile, I dig out one of the old photo albums and flip through the pictures, watching Daniel grow up with the girls. Then, pictures he sent us from Julliard, he and Jack at his first professional concert, performing at the White House, some publicity shots from a Christmas special he did for television. 

Looking at the pictures, I wonder if Jack ever resented the hand fate has dealt him. He gained a son, a son he dearly loves, a son he has done well by. But he lost his best friend, someone who had seen Jack through some of the darkest days in his life.

Scott calls out, reminds me the special is about to start. I shove the photo album back in the bookshelf and hurry into the living room to watch as the world learns about the Stargate. A day, the President said, that marks a new page of our history. 

I have to agree with him.


End file.
